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Construction Zone

The renovation of Founders Hall and the completion of GE Aviation's Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center are among this summer's construction projects.

The University’s oldest residence hall is finally getting a makeover.

Built in 1954, Founders Hall doesn’t look much different than it did when it opened, save for the installation of new roofs, windows and other minor facelifts completed during the past half-century.

That changed this month when construction started on a $10 million renovation project to put Founders in line with other residential facilities on campus. Construction will be completed in August.

Room sizes in Founders, which houses 400 students, will remain the same, but students will gain more space through the installation of thicker, more soundproof walls. Air conditioning will also be installed, and rooms will receive new furniture. All the bathrooms will be renovated.

During the past decade, the University has modernized existing residential facilities for students or built new ones to accommodate a growing student population. Marycrest, Stuart, Virginia W. Kettering and Campus South have all undergone major renovations, and the University built Marianist Hall, ArtStreet apartments and the Caldwell Street Apartments.

The board of trustees approved the Founders Hall plan in 2012, and University officials expect to finance the renovation through bonds.

The renovation is the biggest construction project taking place this summer, but other work will be starting or continuing while most students and faculty are away from campus.

• 1700 South Patterson Building: Workers will finish exterior skin panels started last year and place a new roof on the building. Nonstructural materials labs for the Research Institute currently located in Kettering Labs and Shroyer Park will move to 1700 after renovations on the fifth floor are complete.

• Advancement staff members are expected to move from the sixth floor of College Park Center to the north section of the building this fall. Midmark Corp., a medical equipment company, will move its headquarters to the north section of 1700 by July. Work is taking place at 1700 South Patterson to facilitate both moves.

• College Park Center: The department of music and the theater program will move to the first and fourth floors of the building before the start of the fall semester. The physician assistant program should begin operation on the fifth floor in late fall. School of Education and Allied Professions faculty and staff are scheduled to move to CPC from Chaminade Hall in summer 2014.

• GE Aviation Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center: Work will finish this summer on the 139,000-square-foot GE Aviation Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center. The building is on track to be LEED certified, the first University building to receive the green-building certification. Among the energy-saving innovations is a water system that will use 40 percent less water than that of traditional buildings, equaling 93,000 gallons of savings a year. Ninety percent of the waste being shipped off the construction site is being diverted from landfills. Photovoltaic solar panels near the building’s entrance will help offset the energy to be used at electric-car charging stations. A formal opening will take place this fall, but equipment and staff will move in this summer.

• Roesch Library: A new roof and boiler will be installed once the first phase of construction, which includes window replacement and the application of a brick veneer over the exterior concrete panels, is finished in June or July.

• Science Center: The second phase of a multi-year modernization project will be completed over the summer. The building will receive new windows, and more classrooms and laboratories will be renovated.

• Frericks Center: Lobby displays will be redone and the skylight roof will be replaced.

• Student neighborhoods: General upkeep such as painting, re-roofing and carpet replacement will take place at designated houses. During spring semester, the University spent more than $1 million to reinforce floors in University-owned houses.

• Surfaces: Parking lots will be resurfaced, and pavers will be replaced. Kennedy Union Plaza will undergo a multi-year paver renewal project to replace brick pavers that have been in use since the early 1980s.

For more information, contact Teri Rizvi at 937-229-3255 or rizvi@udayton.edu.